SeaTimes Breaks the Top 20 Rankings

The Seattle Times has lost about 26,000 of the subscribers it gained when the P-I print edition folded earlier this year, according to new figures released today. But it has nonetheless hung onto the majority of P-I faithful and is now the 20th largest daily newspaper in the U.S, 2nd largest on the Left Coast. As of the end of September, the paper had 263,588 subscribers, just behind the Dallas Morning News. The largest paper, the Wall Street Journal, reported more than 2 million subscriptions.

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If the Times' earlier announcements were correct, it may also have reversed its recent downward trend. In April, the paper claimed a circulation of 289,000, shortly after the P-I folded. Prior to the closure, Times circulation was 194,000. In August, it said its post-P-I circulation had dropped to 260,000 (although the New York Times played it as an increase by comparing figures to earlier years rather than the more recent 289,000 peak).

Still, against the August figures, the Times is now saying it has picked up 3,000 subscribers in the past few months. Clearly, it's doing better than some other publications reporting gains and losses today. The SF Chronicle, for one, lost 25 percent of its daily subscribers, and slipped to 21st, behind the Times and just ahead of the Oregonian, now 22nd with a 12 percent decline.